Category: In the News

The pus infected little hole,
Is on my hand and in my soul.
The pain I feel deep within.
What was done?
Did I sin?
I can’t remember and when I try,
I feel so hopeless, I want to cry.
But tears don’t come….silence prevails,
I try to think of some details.
What’s wrong with me? Why don’t I know.
The missing pieces of long ago?
Something starts to stir inside.
From my feelings I have to hide.
So I hurt myself to stop the pain.
It looks as if I’m far from sane.
But truth be told, it’s my way to speak.
To let you know my thoughts are bleak.
I hope you now can understand,
why I had to hurt my hand.
I need for you to lead the way,
Protect me and don’t walk away.
Teach me it’s okay to feel,
Lead me down the path to heal.

You came into my heart with a light to shine the way,
You helped me find the courage to live another day.
You found me in my corner afraid to show my face,
You took my hand and led me to a new and safer place.
You stayed with me while growing into the teen I am today,
Then you let go of my hand and you let me slip away.
You left me with the older Jill who let me disappear,
Did you plan to leave me with a woman who lives in fear?
It’s not that she doesn’t love me, she just cannot let me in,
I remind her of the days when she cried quietly within.
I wish that she could hear me and not be so afraid,
I wish that she could see me feeling lost and so betrayed.
The two of us together could be the perfect pair,
She with her grown up body and me with my curly hair.
We’d conquer things in front of us with brains and body strong,
We’d finally be united, truly feeling that we belong.
But here I sit in silence, once again afraid to speak,
She covers up her eyes and sometimes lets me peek.
You need to help her hold me so deep within her heart,
We need to join together or we’ll quickly fall apart.
Into the dark abyss which is oh so far away,
I’m begging for your help; I really want to sta

Let our love be an umbrella to shelter you from life’s rain.
Let us hold you close
until the storm around you subsides.
Let our voices whisper gently
to shut out all the noise and confusion.
Let us help stop the chaos
while you find the peace.
Let us be beside you….Behind you…
to reassure you that we’ll never be
farther away than your nearest thought.
Let us convince you that
as long as we’re in the world,
you’ll never be alone.
WE LOVE YOU!written by a group member to express how it feels to be in a recovery group.

Goddess dolls made by group members to represent their best selves

A Cry From The Abused

Sexual Abuse is the ultimate form of being used

It is a denial of self with all rights refused

It means that when they are through

I can’t even trust myself, the abuser or you

It means giving up a part

Of me – a part of my heart

my innermost purpose of being alive

It makes me doubt why you even care

In fact, it makes me question everything – everywhere

I feel like giving up the last thing I have

The hope instilled by God above

The unconditional love,

Life’s philosophy seems like it’s been taken from me

I often wish restitution

Or anything that might be a resolution

I need an answer, whole or in part,

To stop the aching in my heart

I want once more to forgive

And to pass from this stage and live

To be free from the weights

And the semi-comatose states

To be loosed from the guilt and reason

And to know the abuse only lasted for a season

by Anonymous Sexual Abuse Survivor

I will not die an unlived life

I will not live in fear
Of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days.
To allow my living to open me.
To make me less afraid,
Moroe accessible:
TO loosen my heart
Until it becomes a wing,
A torch, a promise.

Dawna Markova

Who will cry for the little girl lost and all alone?
Who will cry for the little girl abandoned without her own?
Who will cry for the little girl? She cried herself to sleep.
Who will cry for the little girl? She never had for keeps.
Who will cry for the little girl? She walked the burning sand. Who will cry for the little girl?

The girl inside the woman.
Who will cry for the little girl? She died again and again.
Who will cry for the little girl? A good girl she tried to be.
Who will cry for the little girl, who cries inside of me?by anonymous survivor

Don’t Cry Because It’s Over, Smile Because It Happened.”
Keep calm and carry on.
I am enough.
My attitude grows happier and healthier each day.
I feel stronger and better everyday.
I enjoy healthy eating because I enjoy living long.
I enjoy the day and the opportunities it offers me.
I think positively.
I decide my future and how to change it.
I love my life and the freedom I have to do what I want.
Out of adversity cones abundance.
I always see the glass as half full.
I know I can do it. I believe I can do it.
I think of what is possible instead of what isn’t.
I have everything I need right now to accomplish everything I want.
I am courageous enough to live freely.
My life can only flourish if I let it flourish.
I am beautiful just as I am.
I am in control of the situation
I have the freedom to take the best of life in and enjoy all its beauty.
Breathing in, breathing out, I return to my own center.
I am worthy of joy in my life.
My life can flourish if I let it flourish.
I am a powerful, successful, confident person who can achieve anything.
Beautiful vitality glows within every living cell of my whole body.
I choose to focus on the thoughts that promote my happiness I am a good friend , and I deserve good friends.
I am feeling vibrant and energetic.
I spread warmth and love everywhere I go. I am learning skills and techniques that provide personal empowerment and control over my life experience.
I channel the awesome power of the infinite.

I possess an endless supply of creativity, energy and tolerance for any project that I assume.

I am learning every day to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be, to inspire me and not terrify me. Tracy Ellis Ross

Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying hopes for love, joy, and celebration. The hummingbird’s delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection, has meaning and that laughter is life’s sweetest creation.

You may not control all the events that happen to you but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Buddah

“I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”
― Marilyn Monroe

Be the change that you wish to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi

If you try, you might get exactly what you want. If you don’t you don’t. Unknown

Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Courage, intelligence, and love will help put any situation and is never out of place. Try this: Be brave, think it through and love. Today’s step

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.Budda

We do not need magic to transform the world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already. JK Rowling
Ii know for sure that what we dwell on we become. Oprah Winfrey

Turn your face to the sun and shadows fall behind you. Maori Proverb
Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you’ve never been hurt and live like its heaven on Earth. Mark Twain

tit is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light . Aristotle Onasis
Courage is like a muscle that grows stronger every time I use it.
Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. Oprah Winfrey

I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear. Rosa Parks

Life is not the amount of breaths you take, its the moments that take your breath away.

Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgement of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you’re going to do about it. Kathleen Casey Theisen

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted. Albert Einstein
Show up today-whether your practice is sobriety, meditation, honesty or marital arts. Just do it.

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass… it’s about learning to dance in the rain. Unknown

Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgement of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you’re going to do about it. Kathleen Casey Thomas

Life without a purpose is a languid, drifting thing; every day we ought to review our purpose, saying to ourselves, “This day let me make a sound beginning, for what we have hitherto done is naught.” Thomas Kempis

IIf you are going through Hell keep going. Winston Churchill.
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A big shot is a little shot that keeps shooting. Unknown
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer. George S Patton
Be present- it is the only moment that matters. Peaceful Warrior

Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. Dale Carnegie

IIt is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell. Buddha

Success is to be measured not so much by the position reached in life as by the obstacles overcome while trying to succeed. Booker T. Washington

Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling. Margaret B Runbeck

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. – Robert Brault

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. Albert Einstein

Be a lamp to yourself . Be yourself. Be your own confidence. Hold to the truth within yourself as to
the only truth. Buddah

Before you quit because the road seems too long turn around and look how far you’ve come. Tina Lucky

You need a plan to build a house. To build a life, it is even more important to have a plan or goal. Zig Ziglar

We are all a little weird and
Life’s a little weird and
When we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours we join up with them and
Fall in mutual weirdness and call it
Love. Dr Seuss

Most people don’t know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don’t get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss your life. Anonymous

We only become what we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us. Jean-Paul Sartre

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. Aristotle

The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can. Robert Cushing

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. Dr. Seuss

Growth means change ad change involves risk, stepping from the known to the unknown. George Shinn

“The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

Anything is possible once you have the nerve.
JK Rolling

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplacable spark. In the hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do not let the hero on your soul perish and leave only frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours. Ayn Rand

Turn your wisdom into wounds. Oprah Winfrey

Oh, my friend, its not what they take away from you that counts–it’s what you do with what you have left. Huber H. Humphrey

Fairy Tales are more than true: Not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. Gk Chesterton

II used to go around looking as frumpy as possible because it was inconceivable you could be attractive as well as be smart. It wasn’t till I started being myself, the way I like to turn out to meet people that I started to get any work-Catherine Zeta-Jones

You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think. Winnie the Pooh

It takes courage to push things forward. MoMowlam

If you worry about yesterdays failures then today’s successes will be few. Anonymous

Contentment is of the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how m uch you already have. Unknown source

Carry out random acts of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you. Princess Diana

Change your thoughts and you change the world Norman Vincent Peal

In youth we learn; in age we understand. Marie E Eschenbach
I
t is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself, which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable.
-Maya Angelou

No matter how hard the past you can begin again. Budda

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. Ralph Waldo

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well neither does bathing-that’s why we recommend it daily. Zig Zylare

Lotus flowers are common symbols used in the Buddhist, Thai and Egyptian cultures.
Lotus flowers grow in muddy waters and feature a pristine bloom above the surface. This unique growth pattern elevates the lotus to a symbol linked to spirituality in the Buddhist, Egyptian and Thai tradition.Erin Maurer. This can also be used as a metaphor for abused persons, in that they rise above and bloom in life.

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” anonymous
“The only way out is through.” Robert Frost

The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.” Robert Cushing

It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live while we’re alive-to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but felt with the heart.
Helen Keller

“Courage doesn’t roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the endof the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow”. Mary Anne Radmacher

The first problem for all of us, men and women is not to learn, but to unlearn.
Gloria Steinem

It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself, which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable.
-Maya Angelou
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“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Maria Robinson

“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight”. Phyllis Diller

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting of us” Joseph Campbell

“And the trouble is if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.”
Erica Jong

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet
voice at the end of the day saying ‘I will try again tomorow.'” Mary Anne Radmacher

Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling. Margaret B. Runbeck

A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for:. William Shedd

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar. Raymond Lindquist

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
L ife is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.

~ Mother Teresa
No one can make you feel inferior
without your consent.

~

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful then the risk it took to blossom. Anais Nin